Security is generally thought of as only physical, and in some cases logical if it involves software or technology. But the ultimate target is always people, so there is not only a physical side, but also a logical and emotional one.
In addition, they are connected to each other, as they when one is in seclusion for a long time one's emotional processes are clearly affected. But the reverse is also true, with examples such as the Nazi extermination camps, Stalin's gulags, and Mao's cultural revolution. Many years before Nazism came to power, anti-Semitic sentiment throughout Prussia was evident.
Although there are many examples, some are happening in Spain. When a minister, a mother of three, says she is better off alone and drunk, would we go to a doctor, knowing that she is or is drunk? Can a Minister of Equality, who is supposed to be at the service of Spaniards, be a drunk?
And it doesn't stop there: her husband, the vice-president of the government, swears or promises the Constitution and the constitutional order, while the next day he says he is a republican. What is the point? What is his ultimate goal?
The Minister of Universities, a pro-independence Castilian by origin, says that his Ministry has no competences. If he is so dignified and moral, why doesn't he resign?
What's wrong with the opposition is that they don't have much to spare either. Can you pass sixteen subjects in four months? What do the former president of the Madrid regional government or the former health minister of this government need fictitious master's degrees for?
A few days ago, they sent me a message justifying the non-passage of Madrid to phase 1, contrary to the criteria of the President of the Community. I saw them as logical and reasonable, but what I did not see as reasonable was that the same people who said this made no mention of the people who had drawn up the report, nor did they publish the lists of the Ministry's mask suppliers. Why?
All these events, and many others, make me uneasy, disorientate me, disorganise me and hinder my normal activity. My mother used to say that: "works are loves and not good reasons". Here it seems to be a case of saying one thing and doing another.
This emotional insecurity will lead to a physical insecurity of unsuspected consequences, as the worst instincts will be unleashed and the known atrocities will be committed.
For some years now we have all been familiar with the phenomenon called balconingThe result was that some people jumped into the pool from floors in the hotels where they were staying. The result was broken arms or legs at best. All this happened because they were going against a law of physics, the law of gravity, by which all bodies are attracted to the earth. If someone intoxicated dares to go against it, they will have to bear the consequences.
On 23 September 1999, the Mars Climate probe crashed on Mars, and the reason was that the programmes it carried were written in the metric decimal system, while the artefacts understood it in pounds and feet. 125 million dollars wasted. The dialogue of the deaf between the Community of Madrid and the Government is similar.
These examples make me think that the bill we will pay will be more than expensive, and not just money.
How can we regain our emotional security? Avoiding emotional disorganisations, drawing on our traditional values, the tried and tested ones that work like gravity, as well as speaking a single language. It seems to be a time when the end justifies the means.
That is why we should ask and answer ourselves: What if they did it to me? Is it reasonable? Is it possible to say and do anything without responsibility?
Manuel García Ramírez
Independent consultant
Director of MGR Consultores IT y Seguridad. Former IT Production Manager in Financial Institutions. Director of Security for the Catholic University of Avila. Degree in Physical Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid.